Mortgages for foreign nationals

Moving to the UK, or already settled here on a visa, and wondering whether you can buy a home? You are not alone — and the short answer is that a mortgage is often possible, even if you do not yet hold British citizenship or permanent residency. This guide explains, in plain terms, how mortgages work for foreign nationals and people on a range of UK visas. It covers the main visa routes lenders see most often, why your time left in the UK and your residency history matter, and how the size of your deposit can change which lenders may consider your application.

This page is general information, not personal advice. Every lender treats foreign national and visa applicants differently, and the criteria change frequently. To find out what may be realistic for your own circumstances, speak to a qualified Mortgage Adviser who can look at your situation in full.

Niche Advice Limited is a mortgage and credit broker, not a lender. We do not decide who gets a mortgage — lenders do — but we can help you understand the landscape and approach lenders whose criteria may fit.

What counts as a “foreign national” or “visa” mortgage?

There is no single product called a “visa mortgage”. Instead, mainstream and specialist lenders apply extra criteria to applicants who are not British or Irish citizens, or who do not have permanent residency. Lenders typically look at three things:

• Your immigration status — the type of visa or permission you hold.
• Your time in the UK — how long you have lived here and how long you have left to remain.
• Your financial footprint — UK income, UK bank account, credit history built in the UK, and the deposit you can put down.

Some lenders welcome applicants on certain visas; others decline them outright. This is why the route you are on matters so much, and why comparing across the market can be worthwhile rather than assuming one high-street decline is the final word.

The foreign-national case we see most often

In our experience, the typical foreign-national case is a couple who have come to live and work in the UK in the last couple of years. Their lives were essentially in another country, so their savings and investments are often still abroad. They usually have good salaries here, so the income multiple is rarely the issue: in our experience their income multiples of four and a half, five or five and a half times income tend to fit, and we have lenders that will go up to five and a half times income for foreign nationals. The challenge is the deposit. Many have rented since they arrived and now want to get on the property ladder.

The money is not always easy to bring over. There may be assets abroad that cannot be sold quickly, the country you came from may have rules about bringing money into the UK, or it may be a higher risk country where proving the source of funds is not straightforward. Often it is not that people do not have the money; it is that they cannot bring that money in. So most clients want to use the savings they have built up here, which is why a higher loan to value mortgage is such a big part of this area.

Visa clients are also typically first-time buyers. They do not own any property in the UK yet, so they do not know the process or the steps, and naturally many are nervous about it.

The main visa routes lenders consider

Below are the routes lenders see most often. The notes are a general guide only — individual lender criteria vary, and a qualified Mortgage Adviser can tell you which lenders may currently consider your route.

When we started out, very few lenders would deal with foreign nationals on a visa, and loan to values were very low. Thankfully there is now far more choice, from high street banks you will have heard of through to specialist lenders you might not have heard of, because they do not deal with consumers directly.

But just because a lender says it can do a visa case, it does not necessarily mean it can do your case. There is a big difference between a Skilled Worker visa, a family dependent visa, an ancestry visa and a refugee visa, and the same lender may accept a Skilled Worker visa but not a refugee visa or a spousal visa. Even within one route the rules differ: on a spousal visa, some lenders insist that your spouse is on the mortgage with you, while others will let you buy the property by yourself. In our experience, many visa applications are declined late in the process because the lender’s criteria were not properly understood at the start.

Skilled Worker visa

The Skilled Worker route (which replaced Tier 2 General) is one of the more widely accepted by lenders, partly because it usually comes with a sponsoring UK employer and a stable salary. Lenders will often want to see a track record of UK residence and a reasonable amount of time remaining on the visa. A larger deposit can open up more lender choice if your time in the UK is short.

With a Skilled Worker visa, one of the most important things is how long you have been with the company and your salary. That matters because some lending criteria is based on income: at some lenders your income level changes the maximum loan to value available, so a lower salary can mean a larger deposit is needed. For example, there are lenders that, on a Skilled Worker visa, will allow you to go up to 90 to 95% mortgages if you are earning over £50k; if your income is lower than that, they may not.

Health and Care Worker visa

Doctors, nurses and people working in health or adult social care may be eligible to apply for the Health and Care Worker visa instead of the standard Skilled Worker visa. Many lenders treat it similarly to the standard Skilled Worker route. Because applicants often arrive with limited UK credit history, having a UK bank account and building a UK financial footprint over time can help.

Ancestry visa

The UK Ancestry visa is open to Commonwealth citizens with a UK-born grandparent. It is a longer route (typically granted for five years) and can lead to settlement, which some lenders view positively because it suggests long-term intent to remain. As always, time left to remain and deposit size influence which lenders may consider you.

Spouse and family visas

If you are in the UK on a spouse, partner or other family visa, your application may be assessed alongside a partner who is a British citizen or settled resident. A joint application with a settled partner can broaden the lenders willing to consider you, but lenders will still look at the visa holder’s status and the household’s overall position.

If you are buying with a British partner, we can often use your partner’s status on a joint application, and some lenders will ignore the visa in that situation because you are buying with a British national.

Family visas come in several forms, and lenders do not treat them all the same. A spouse visa is different from a family dependent visa, where you are reliant on another relative such as a brother or your mother, and there are also adults who get visas based on their children. It matters who you are reliant on, whether your spouse is a British citizen or is on a visa themselves, and which route you are on.

Student-to-Work switchers (Graduate visa)

People who studied in the UK and then switched onto a working route — for example the Graduate visa, then on to a Skilled Worker visa — are increasingly common. Lenders tend to focus on your current status rather than your study history, but a short remaining visa term and limited UK income history can narrow the options. Building UK earnings and credit before applying generally helps.

Tier 1 and Tier 2 (legacy routes)

The old Tier 1 (including Investor and Entrepreneur) and Tier 2 categories have largely been replaced by newer routes, but some applicants still hold permissions granted under the legacy system. Lenders that consider these applicants will look at the specifics of the permission and the time remaining. If your route was a legacy one, a qualified Mortgage Adviser can help you understand how lenders are likely to treat it today.

Refugee and asylum status

People granted refugee status or humanitarian protection can usually access a more limited pool of lenders, particularly once they have established UK income and a UK bank account. Those still in the asylum process, without leave to remain, will generally find lending unavailable until status is granted. This is a sensitive and individual area — speaking to a qualified Mortgage Adviser early can save time.

In our experience, not all visas are equal here. There are not that many lenders that will do refugee visas, and those that do tend to want a larger deposit and have other criteria behind it, so this is a route where knowing the lenders really matters. When I looked at this in 2020, I was only aware of two lenders that would do refugee visas, and their restrictions were a 25% or 30% deposit.

EU Settled and Pre-Settled status

Since the UK left the EU, EU, EEA and Swiss citizens generally rely on the EU Settlement Scheme:

• Settled status is treated by most lenders much like permanent residency, because there is no time limit on your right to remain. Lender choice is usually wider.
• Pre-Settled status is not permanent, so lenders may apply extra checks — looking at how long you have lived in the UK, your residency history and your deposit. Some lenders are comfortable with pre-settled applicants; others prefer settled status.

Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR)

Indefinite Leave to Remain means you can live and work in the UK without time restrictions. For mortgage purposes, ILR is often treated similarly to settled status, and applicants with ILR typically have access to the widest range of lenders among non-citizens. You will usually still need to evidence UK income, a UK credit footprint and an acceptable deposit.

How time, residency and deposit affect your options

Three factors do most of the heavy lifting in deciding which lenders may consider you.

Time left in the UK

Lenders want reassurance that you intend — and are permitted — to stay. A longer remaining visa term, or a route that leads to settlement, generally widens lender choice. A short time left to remain narrows it, though it does not automatically rule out a mortgage.

The specific criteria around how long you have been here and how long you have got left on your visa vary a lot. Some lenders will say you must have been here for a year (12 months), or for two years, with UK residential addresses; others will say you need maybe six months or 12 months left on your visa; others will only accept certain types of visa; and there are lenders that do not have a minimum time in the UK and do not have a minimum time left on a visa, which is important for a lot of people who have not been here that long. It is also worth thinking about when you came into the country, when you expect to get indefinite leave to remain and what your plans are around that.

Lenders have different rules, and they don’t necessarily fit with the visa rules. People often get one visa for a couple of years, then a further extension, and then another extension before they are eligible for indefinite leave to remain, while others go down a five-year route first. So a lender that wants you to have been here for a set number of years, or to have a set time left on your visa, may simply not work for the route you are on, even if you are well settled here. Different lenders have different policies on this, which is why understanding the visa rules is vital.

This is not new. When we first wrote this page back in 2013, the usual pattern was a three-year visa that was nearly always extended for a further two years, after which you would typically be considered for indefinite leave to remain, and we described lender rules that ignored that pattern as crude and ill thought out.

Residency history

How long you have already lived in the UK matters. A continuous UK address history, a UK bank account and a UK credit record all help lenders assess affordability and reliability. Applicants who have recently arrived may find fewer lenders willing to lend, while those with several years of UK residence often have more choice. Some lenders also set a lower maximum loan to value where there is not enough UK credit data to assess.

When a lender credit scores you, it is the lender’s own credit score system, not the score you see on a credit reference app. It is not just about a credit file: it is about how long you have been here, whether there is a track record on your credit, what level of deposit you have, what you are buying and what job you are in. In our experience the biggest sign is how long you have been here. Someone who arrived six months ago with a small deposit is much less likely to be accepted than someone who has been here five years with good earnings, whatever job the newer arrival has, and buying with a British partner can improve the overall picture. Because visa applicants often have only a handful of suitable lenders, every declined application matters, so it is important to understand how precious your credit profile is and to start with a lender that does a soft credit search.

Your job and your income

Occupations are really important, and so is where you work: for example, whether you work for a multinational company, how long you have been in the job, and whether you are employed or self-employed. If you are a self-employed foreign national, you have to fit the self-employment criteria as well as the visa criteria, such as whether the lender can work from one year’s accounts or wants two. It could also be that you are an IT contractor on a daily rate, you have just started a new contract or job, you want the lender to go by your latest year’s figures, or you are a professional with employed income plus additional self-employed income. There are various reasons why you would go to one lender over the other.

The detail of the visa matters here too. Most people assume an older Tier 1 visa means an entrepreneur with a business, but some Tier 1 holders were on an exceptional talent route and are employed, for example working for a university. An entrepreneur has to show accounts, generally two years to go down the high street, which is a completely different setup from someone who is employed. Occupations raise their own questions as well: IT consultants may be on a daily rate, contracting or working through an umbrella company; some lenders want a year or two of experience, which can be complicated for a newly qualified doctor; and a lender with a good product for doctors, accountants or solicitors may not have the visa criteria to match.

Deposit size

Deposit is expressed as a percentage of the property value, and the related figure lenders use is loan-to-value (LTV) — the proportion of the purchase price you are borrowing. As a general rule, a larger deposit (a lower LTV) tends to open up more lender options for foreign national and visa applicants, particularly where time in the UK is limited. Some specialist lenders ask for a larger deposit from applicants on certain visas. Deposit requirements differ from lender to lender, but you will need at least 5% for mortgages on your home and 25% for buy-to-lets, so it is worth understanding what your own deposit makes possible.

The big one really is the high loan to value foreign national mortgage, because so many clients are buying with the savings they have built up here. Some high street lenders will consider applicants who are not UK nationals at up to 95% loan to value, subject to conditions such as how long you have lived in the UK and your income. Where those conditions are not met, the maximum loan to value can be much lower. When I recorded a video on this in 2023, I would say there were about five, six or seven lenders that would do it with a 25% deposit, a couple at 20%, a couple at 10% and one or two with a 5% deposit, all subject to the lender’s credit score.

An agreement in principle at a high loan to value is not the final word on how much you can borrow. When I looked at this in 2020, a few of our foreign-national cases at 90% loan to value that had an agreement in principle were knocked down to 85% loan to value by the lender, even though they fitted the criteria and the affordability.

We do not quote rates on this page, because the rate available to you depends on the lender, the product and your personal circumstances. Speak to a qualified Mortgage Adviser for a current quote based on your situation.

New-build and off-plan purchases

In our experience, many foreign-national buyers prefer new builds to older UK properties. Help to Buy used to be really good for this, because we could do it for foreign nationals with a 5% deposit and the government would subsidise it, but Help to Buy has now gone. When I looked at this in 2023, new-build flats generally needed a bigger deposit than new-build houses. If you are buying a new build, we would try to go for a property that has already been built, or will be built in the next couple of months, and steer clear of off-plan projects that will not be finished for a year or two. When I recorded a video on this in 2023, most mortgage offers were valid for six months, a lot of lenders would give an extension for another three months and some would extend up to 12 months, but that was about it; completion deadlines on off-plan developments are often missed; and all it takes is for a lender to decide, before your offer runs out, that it no longer wants to lend to visa applicants, when you may only have one or two lenders to go back to. Be careful, too, when a developer pushes you towards its own brokers, because they may not deal with visa cases.

Source of funds and gifted deposits from abroad

Source of funds and gifted deposits are a huge part of dealing with foreign nationals. You have to fit UK money laundering rules, and it is not only the broker: the lender and the solicitor also need to be satisfied about the source of the funds. So the conversations about where the money is coming from need to be had clearly, and early. It is serious: if the source of funds cannot be ironed out properly, the application cannot get through the UK money laundering rules.

The questions we work through include:

• Is the deposit money here in the UK, or is it still abroad?
• Is a gift involved? If so, who is gifting it, and are they living abroad or here?
• How was the money built up, and what can evidence that?
• What documentation do you have, and does it need to be translated?
• If money has come to the UK, how long has it been in your account, how did you receive it (for example, was it wired) and can we show evidence of that?

Say, for example, a parent has sold a piece of land abroad to help with the deposit. The evidence might be the sale paperwork, their bank statements, the transfer into your account in that country and the money then landing in your UK account. There is no point simply telling a lender the money has been sitting in your account for three months; what matters is where it came from. Lenders look at the source, not just where the deposit sits today: if you have been working here for two or three years, a deposit much larger than your UK earnings could have built will prompt the question of where the rest came from. The key bit is documentation, documentation, documentation. Where funds are still abroad, we generally suggest having the money sitting in a UK bank account for at least a couple of months before applying, so the bank receiving it has done its own money laundering checks, which lenders often like to see.

Which country the money comes from matters. There is a big difference between receiving a gift from a lower risk country and from a higher risk one. If the money comes from a sanctioned country, the bank will have an issue with it and you may not be able to use it as a gifted deposit at all. If it is a relatively safe country that is not on any sanctions list, it can be dealt with, as long as we can show the source of funds. It becomes more difficult with what we would call mid-level risk countries, and harder again with high-risk countries, and because of the way money now moves through different countries, some places that were seen as safe are not necessarily seen that way now. If your money is in a high-risk or sanctioned country, a lot of banks will not deal with it and proving it can be a very long process, so it is worth discussing with a broker whether you can proceed without those funds.

Culturally, we do things differently in the UK. In many families it is normal to be gifted money, or gifted gold, to help with a home. All of those things can be problematic here, because if you cannot prove the funds, a lender cannot rely on them. In the same way, there is no point saying you put cash in your pocket and paid it into your bank: that does not show the source of funds.

Lenders’ own rules differ too. There are some lenders that will accept gifted deposits for foreign nationals and other lenders that will not accept them, including where the person giving the gift lives abroad or the money comes from another country. Many lenders only accept a gift from direct family, such as a mother, father, brother, sister or grandparent, but there are some lenders that will accept a gift from a friend. There are some lenders that will accept the money only being here for a certain period of time, other lenders will want the money to have been here for two months or three months, and some want it in a UK bank account by the time you apply. If you have a family member here in the UK and a family member abroad who could help, it is usually better to get the money from the family member here, because then we can account for it. Whoever gives the gift needs to be happy to provide their passport, bank statements, proof of ID and proof of address, and to be questioned, and we need to make sure the money was not only paid into their own account a couple of days before it reached yours. We would typically expect a gifted deposit letter and the money transferred into your UK account with a clear audit trail. It is very much dependent on the lender and the conveyancer.

This is also why an agreement in principle can give a false sense of security. An agreement in principle is often just a credit search: your details have been put into the system and it has said yes, without full underwriting. We have seen agreements in principle from lenders that will not accept source of funds from abroad, for buyers whose deposit was coming from abroad. It has to be backed up by a lender whose criteria actually fit your case.

Documents lenders commonly ask for

While requirements differ, foreign national and visa applicants are often asked for:

• A valid passport and your visa or biometric residence permit (or share code confirming your status).
• Proof of UK address history, often covering the last few years.
• Evidence of UK income — payslips, employment contract, or business accounts if self-employed.
• UK bank statements.
• Details of your deposit and its source.
• If any of your deposit is a gift or has come from abroad, evidence of where it came from and how it reached your UK account, with translated documentation where needed.

Having these ready before you apply can make the process smoother.

How Niche Advice Limited can help

As a mortgage and credit broker, we help you understand your options and approach lenders whose criteria may suit your visa, residency history and deposit. We cannot promise an outcome — lending decisions rest with lenders, and they assess each case individually — but we can help you avoid wasting time with lenders unlikely to consider your route. Where you need a personal recommendation, you will speak to a qualified Mortgage Adviser who can assess your full circumstances.

Many estate agents know that someone on a visa may find it more difficult to get a mortgage. So we work with you to be ready before you make an offer: a mortgage in principle from a lender whose criteria fit your case, a solicitor that deals with foreign nationals, has the right permissions to do so, understands the process and has its own list of countries it can and cannot deal with, and our details as your broker so the agent can check us out. Then when you make the offer, you are ready and have everything in place. Think about it from the estate agent’s side: if you and three British buyers all make offers, the agent will want to feel confident that you can complete, because the other buyers do not have as many barriers to get through. So we want everything in one organised file, with your proof of deposit, your affordability and your agreement in principle, and your solicitor’s and broker’s details, so the agent has no reason to say no. That is the difference between someone who is going to win the property and someone who just walks in with an email saying a broker told them they can get a mortgage.

As a foreign national you can often get the same product as a British national, but the underwriting is done slightly differently: it is a different process, with more questions and different rules to abide by. When I recorded a video on this in 2023, you were not penalised with a worse rate at those high street lenders just because you were a foreign national; you got the same rate as a British national. Anybody can get a mortgage application through; not everybody gets a mortgage offer and completes the deal.

A lot of the visa cases that reach us are second-hand. A lender that says it will do a visa has been offered, but the rules around loan to value, underwriting, the visa or gifted deposits were not understood, and the case has fallen down. You get a lot of criteria failures with visa applications, which is why the lender needs to be right from the start.

Over the years, our foreign-national clients have included nurses working in the NHS, IT consultants and IT contractors on daily rates, and professionals such as accountants, solicitors and barristers. For many, the first purchase is only the start. We have clients whose first flat we arranged, who then moved into a house as their family grew, and who are now on their third or fourth buy to let property, the first in their own names and later on a limited company basis, although they are foreign nationals on a visa. For others, the deposit gets better or they get indefinite leave to remain, which makes things a lot easier.

Sources

• GOV.UK — Skilled Worker visa: https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa
• GOV.UK — UK Ancestry visa: https://www.gov.uk/ancestry-visa
• GOV.UK — Family visa (partner or spouse): https://www.gov.uk/uk-family-visa/partner-spouse
• GOV.UK — Graduate visa: https://www.gov.uk/graduate-visa
• GOV.UK — Settled and pre-settled status: https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families/what-settled-and-presettled-status-means
• GOV.UK — Indefinite leave to remain: https://www.gov.uk/indefinite-leave-to-remain
• legislation.gov.uk — The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds Regulations 2017, regulation 8: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2017/692/regulation/8/made

Foreign national or visa holder? Talk to a specialist

Visa holders and non-UK nationals can find a mortgage harder to arrange — we look at which lenders may consider your residency and income.

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